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Arts, Briefly

Germany's largest theater chain has yanked the Turkish film "Valley of the Wolves -- Iraq" from its theaters after complaints that it is anti-Semitic and anti-American, Reuters reported. The action by the chain, CinemaxX, came after German politicians condemned the film as "hateful and dangerous" because it depicts atrocities by American troops in Iraq and because one of its villains, portrayed by Gary Busey, is a Jewish-American doctor who traffics in stolen organs. Among the leading German politicians who have called on theaters not to screen the film are Edmund Stoiber, the premier of Bavaria, and Reinhard Bütikofer, the chairman of the Green Party. A spokesman for CinemaxX, Arne Schmidt, said: "The controversy surrounding this film has really heated up. We didn't want to add oil to the fire, so we decided to pull the film." Amid the uproar, Maxximum, the German distributor, is planning to expand to 86 from 65 the number of screens where "Valley of the Wolves," also starring Billy Zane as a sociopathic American military commander, is playing. Anil Sahin, the founder of Maxximum, said: "As a businessman, I can only thank German politicians for helping to sell my movie. As a democrat, however, I am disgusted with this attempt to play politics with the basic rights of free speech and expression."

Lust in Translation

Reproduction will take the libidinous women of "Desperate Housewives," like Marcia Cross, right, to Latin America, The Associated Press reported. Seeking to recreate the success of the original drama on ABC, Disney's international production arm is planning to produce four new versions of "Desperate Housewives" to be broadcast in Spanish in Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador and in Portuguese in Brazil. Each will be filmed on a set in Buenos Aires and will follow the format of the American series but will be adapted to reflect local cultures. "In the U.S. version there's a plumber in that neighborhood," said Fernando Barbosa, senior vice president of Buena Vista International Television Latin America. "In Latin America, a plumber is very unlikely to live in such a type of neighborhood, so we'll have to switch that profession." He said production on the Argentine version of "Desperate Housewives" is to begin on April 15 , and the first episodes could be seen as soon as June or July.

Arctic Monkeys' Big Night

The postpunk rockers the Arctic Monkeys made off with three major prizes when the NME Awards were presented on Thursday in London, The Associated Press reported. Besides a prize for best track for "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," the Monkeys, including Alex Turner, above, also won the awards for best British band and best new band, making them the first to win those prizes in the same year. The Kaiser Chiefs, who had six nominations, won only the prize for best album, "Employment." Kanye West received the trophy for best solo artist, and the Strokes got the prize for best international artist. Pete Doherty, the drug-arrest-prone lead singer of Babyshambles, was named sexiest man, and Madonna sexiest woman. The Sex Pistols will not attend their induction ceremony to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month, according to a crude handwritten note posted at the band's Web site. "We're not coming," reads the note, filled with obscenities and misspellings. "We're not your monkey."

Footnotes

Julio Bocca, 38, who is retiring after a 20-year career as principal dancer with American Ballet Theater, will perform with the company for the last time as Des Grieux in Kenneth MacMillan's "Manon" on June 22 at the Metropolitan Opera House. Plácido Domingo has renewed his contracts as general director of the Los Angeles Opera and the Washington National Opera. In each case, his contract will run into 2011. The trial of the British glam rocker Gary Glitter, below, 61, on charges of molesting underage Vietnamese girls, has been scheduled for Thursday, Reuters reported. Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, said he was helping the two girls with their English. "Mammals," by Amelia Bullmore, and "The Sugar Wife," by Elizabeth Kuti, have been named winners of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for female playwrights in the English-speaking theater. Each of the writers, who are English, received $6,000 at the awards ceremony in London. Franco Zeffirelli, the designer and director, will receive the Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design when the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards are bestowed on April 7 at the Hudson Theater.

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